For the most part, the safety announcements flight attendants make on the PA are pretty much the same, regardless of the airline. The FAA mandates a specific pre-take-off announcement, with certain parts said during general boarding, departure, etc. It gets updated here and there as needed.
There’s a little leeway allowed, which is how the world has been lucky enough to wind up with what may be some of the funniest flight attendant safety announcements ever. But for the most part, the basic information is still there and always the same.
A new addition?
Joe and I had a quick weekend trip to NYC, where we took jetBlue up to EWR from our home airport of MCO. The safety announcements were about the same as they always were, but there was something new at the end. It went something like this:
Ladies and gentlemen, we’d like to remind you to please not change your baby’s diapers on the seats of the plane. There are baby changing facilities in the lavatory.
Also, please do not dispose of wipes in the toilet or in the pocket of the seat in front of you. Please dispose of them in the trash.
I hadn’t been on a flight since (could it really be???) December, so I didn’t know if it was something new/required or what. But I had free Wi-Fi, so I DMed my friend Jamie, who is a Delta flight attendant.
Got my answer
So since it wasn’t a safety issue (well, save for the people next to the baby-being-changed possibly puking), and didn’t happen often enough where it was a “thing,” it wasn’t typically part o the announcement. At least for “Jamie,” anyway – they said it’s only happened twice on their flights in the 6 years they’d been a flight attendant.
That was the end of the conversation, and I settled into “flying to NY” mode.
The rest of the story
But when we landed and were disembarking, I stopped and talked to the flight attendant who made the announcement.
“So, how often DO parents change babies’ diapers on the seats that it’s part of the announcement?” I asked.
“Oh, on practically every flight!” they replied.
I’ll be honest – I don’t know what my friend “Jamie’s” typical route is (we’re more acquaintances than friends, but I know they’re there if I have “FA” or “Delta” questions). But if they typically don’t fly in and out of Orlando, which is practically the family vacation destination of the whole freakin’ world, that would make sense why they haven’t experienced very many “change the baby’s diaper on the plane seat.” And why jetBlue FAs, who, I assume, fly between MCO and EWR on a regular basis, have? For them, it is an ongoing issue, so it got tacked on to the end of the spiel.
Makes sense.
Feature Photo: Mattes // Wikimedia // Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Germany license
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5 comments
The airlines have installed lavs that are barely big enough for the typical adult, let alone an adult and a baby. There’s your reason for why the change at the seat occurs.
Now, leaving the diaper in the seat pocket or anywhere other than the trash is inexcusable.
I might change a diaper of my tot in the seat if we have the full row to ourselves AND if it’s just a number one, but I’d try to just wait until arrival if it’s short haul. I wouldnt subject other pax to the, um, experience of a 2.
JetBlue has a larger lav in the front of every A320. Also some routes do require some extra announcements…
Chaninging Diapers in a cabin seat is a NO NO
Infant waste is the same as Adult Waste and and is a Bio Hazard. It is all human waste. To those that change diapers in a cabin seat, do you change diapers at a resturant booth or a chair ?
People eat on those cabin seats and tables on a plane, please don’t justify changing .a diaper on a seat. Changing a diaper is not a dire emergency and can wait until a lavatory is available. There is ample room in jetblue’s lavatories to change an infant, and a drop down table to do.so. justifying that it’s too small is an excuse.
Also handing a FA a dirty diaper is unsanitary , and comparable to handing them dirty pice of toilet paper rolled up.
Biohazard! People eat and drink at these seats and changing infants there is leaving fecal matter! They may look cute, but waste coming out of their bodies is still biohazard, and as such is a HUGE SAFETY issue, hence it seems extremely logically (albeit sad) that it has to actually be told to parents in a safety related announcement because it doesnt occur to a parent that it is human waste they are subjecting strangers too. Yet another example of how diseases and sicknesses spread on planes! All planes I have been on (including many of the jetblue planes) have baby changing tables in a least one or two restrooms on the plane. The people saying the restrooms are so small – well so are the space at the seats! The restrooms is sufficiently large enough for a parent to get in, put the table down, change the child, and get out. You’re not doing yoga in there. You being efficient. Just like you would be if you (an adult) had to use the restroom. You wouldn’t urinate / defecate at your seat and tidy up there because the bathroom is small. While they’re at it, they should announce for the parents who inevitably will change their children at the seats, to at least get up and take the soiled diaper to the bathroom trash for disposition. Why hand a defeated diaper (like $#!+ in toilet paper) to someone (the flight attendant) working and bringing food /drinks to others. Just all unhygienic all around and a HUGE SAFETY ISSUE. How did the writer of this article not see anything wrong with their article?
The writer of the article (that would be me) is 100% in agreement that babies should be changed in the lavatory. Not sure why you would think otherwise? The only thing I questioned was if it was a new announcement across all airlines or not.